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Following you find the 1:1 information also provided in the staff forums. While many things may not be of interest for most I did include them to both demonstrate how much work behind the scenes is necessary to build these mountains, and it shall also serve as tutorial to anyone else interested in voxelling (if you aim for a staff rank or want to create nice mountains for a personal project).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a wholesome air about Hollin. Much evil must befall a country before it wholly forgets the Elves, if once they dwelt there.
Hithaeglir aka The Misty Mountains
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PART 2: Gladden Pass High Moors of Rivendell Eregion (aka Hollin) Hollin Ridge
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /warp Rivendell
The largest project enters the 2nd round. Following a few general thoughts about this section.
This section is done now so that the path of the fellowship can be continued from Rivendell to Lothlórien. As mentioned in the last staff meeting Moria will be running alongside this project and of course (for me) Moria has the higher priority. However there will for sure often be the possibility to do some more work here. However thus I lay the (executive) project Lead into the hands of @Emilio_.
Any other staff can always join in and take over some of the voxelling. This guide here should provide all the knowledge required, if still questions persist, don't hesitate to ask.
The main features of this section will be:
Gladden Pass: Beside the fact that it exists, no information is given here. The idea shall be to make it take a route that seems feasible and logical, but also is interesting and comes along some nice terrain features. The road should be rather simplistic (so as few bridges and similar as possible), and it can partly be very exposed and/or steep.
High Moors of Rivendell: Between the Bruinen Ford and Rivendell the path leads through treacherous high moors. In that area will be placed a larger flat area which in some parts may be very wet (even small lakes). Further southwards terrain gets again drier so that a nice transition to the already finished terrain is possible. In this area many small paths will be added, similar to northern Ithilien. Maybe we'll also add another Hollin town. Be sure to check the book description below which is in parts very detailed. (Mainly the Hobbit.)
Rivendell access / roads: From the western side again the white stones will be marking the path. Rivendell will lose the road out from the backside and a (temporary) alternative route to connect the High Pass will be built.
The Fords of Bruinen will be changed too according to the map: The hill to its south shall be lowered / flattened, the road from the Bruinen Ford towards the High Pass and Eregion will be mostly parallel to the Bruinen. As pointed out by @Eriol_Eandur the Northern Ford side should be changed too to match the book descriptions.
To everyone who already worked on terrain around Rivendell: I'm sorry, but I most likely have to change it again to make the terrain fit in layout and style to the rest of the mountains.
Hollin Ridge: The current Hollin Ridge is too far south; All of Hollin should be south to it. This will mean that the course of the river Bruinen will be changed, however the size of the Angle should not be decreased to much for potential MERP additions there.
Emilio has already completed most of the tasks connected to it beside adding the new Hollin Ridge.
Gladden Fields: As the other swamps this would just include coming up with a style concept and then mostly jobs. Further north is a construction site where long ago BrotherAlex assumingly worked on the Gladden Fields; his start was too far North though, thus these changes there should be revoked.
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit - Chapter 3: A Short Rest said:
That sounded nice and comforting, but they had not got there yet, and it was not so easy as it sounds to find the Last Homely House west of the Mountains. There seemed to be no trees and no valleys and no hills to break the ground in front of them, only one vast slope going slowly up and up to meet the feet of the nearest mountain, a wide land the colour of heather and crumbling rock, with patches and slashes of grass-green and moss-green showing where water might be.
Morning passed, afternoon came; but in all the silent waste there was no sign of any dwelling. They were growing anxious, for they now saw that the house might be hidden almost anywhere between them and the mountains. They came on unexpected valleys, narrow with deep sides, that opened suddenly at their feet, and they looked down surprised to see trees below them and running water at the bottom. There were gullies that they could almost leap over; but very deep with waterfalls in them. There were dark ravines that one could neither jump nor climb into. There were bogs, some of them green pleasant places to look at with flowers growing bright and tall; but a pony that walked there with a pack on its back would never have come out again.
It was indeed a much wider land from the ford to the mountains than ever you would have guessed. Bilbo was astonished. The only path was marked with white stones some of which were small, and others were half covered with moss or heather. Altogether it was a very slow business following the track, even guided by Gandalf, who seemed to know his way about pretty well.
The Lord of the Rings - Book II - Chapter 3: The Ring goes south said:
Many had gone east and south; and some of these had crossed the Mountains and entered Mirkwood, while others had climbed the pass at the source of the Gladden River, and had come down into Wilderland and over the Gladden Fields and so at length had reached the old home of Radagast at Rhosgobel.
[...]
They crossed the bridge and wound slowly up the long steep paths that led out of the cloven vale of Rivendell; and they came at length to the high moor where the wind hissed through the heather. Then with one glance at the Last Homely House twinkling below them they strode away far into the night. At the Ford of Bruinen they left the Road and turning southwards went on by narrow paths among the folded lands. Their purpose was to hold this course west of the Mountains for many miles and days. The country was much rougher and more barren than in the green vale of the Great River in Wilderland on the other side of the range, and their going would be slow; but they hoped in this way to escape the notice of unfriendly eyes. The spies of Sauron had hitherto seldom been seen in this empty country, and the paths were little known except to the people of Rivendell. Gandalf walked in front, and with him went Aragorn, who knew this land even in the dark. The others were in file behind, and Legolas whose eyes were keen was the rearguard. The first part of their journey was hard and dreary, and Frodo remembered little of it, save the wind. For many sunless days an icy blast came from the Mountains in the east, and no garment seemed able to keep out its searching fingers. Though the Company was well clad, they seldom felt warm, either moving or at rest. They slept uneasily during the middle of the day, in some hollow of the land, or hidden under the tangled thornbushes that grew in thickets in many places. In the late afternoon they were roused by the watch, and took their chief meal: cold and cheerless as a rule, for they could seldom risk the lighting of a fire. In the evening they went on again, always as nearly southward as they could find a way. At first it seemed to the hobbits that although they walked and stumbled until they were weary, they were creeping forward like snails, and getting nowhere. Each day the land looked much the same as it had the day before. Yet steadily the mountains were drawing nearer. South of Rivendell they rose ever higher, and bent westwards; and about the feet of the main range there was tumbled an ever wider land of bleak hills, and deep valleys filled with turbulent waters. Paths were few and winding, and led them often only to the edge of some sheer fall, or down into treacherous swamps. They had been a fortnight on the way when the weather changed. The wind suddenly fell and then veered round to the south. The swiftflowing clouds lifted and melted away, and the sun came out, pale and bright. There came a cold clear dawn at the end of a long stumbling night-march. The travellers reached a low ridge crowned with ancient holly-trees whose grey-green trunks seemed to have been built out of the very stone of the hills. Their dark leaves shone and their berries glowed red in the light of the rising sun. Away in the south Frodo could see the dim shapes of lofty mountains that seemed now to stand across the path that the Company was taking. At the left of this high range rose three peaks; the tallest and nearest stood up like a tooth tipped with snow; its great, bare, northern precipice was still largely in the shadow, but where the sunlight slanted upon it, it glowed red. Gandalf stood at Frodo's side and looked out under his hand. 'We have done well,' he said. 'We have reached the borders of the country that Men call Hollin; many Elves lived here in happier days, when Eregion was its name. Five-andforty leagues as the crow flies we have come, though many long miles further our feet have walked. The land and the weather will be milder now, but perhaps all the more dangerous.'
[...]
Guided by Aragorn they struck a good path. It looked to Frodo like the remains of an ancient road, that had once been broad and well planned, from Hollin to the mountain-pass. The Moon, now at the full, rose over the mountains, and cast a pale light in which the shadows of stones were black. Many of them looked to have been worked by hands, though now they lay tumbled and ruinous in a bleak, barren land.
The Lord of the Rings - Book II - Chapter 4: A Journey in the Dark (for warg hill) said:
For their defence in the night the Company climbed to the top of the small hill under which they had been sheltering. it was crowned with a knot of old and twisted trees, about which lay a broken circle of boulder stones. In the midst of this they lit a fire, for there was no hope that darkness and silence would keep their trail from discovery by the hunting packs.
Items marked with --> are individual projects and not part of this project.
1.[Finished]Mountains of Moria
2. [In Progress]Gladden Pass & High Moors + Eregion Revamp
Gladden Pass
River Gladden
Gladden Fields
Hollin Ridge
High Moors of Rivendell
3. [On Hold] Fangorn / Dunland
Nan Curunir
Methedras
Dol Baran
--> Fangorn
--> Isengard Wellinghall Glanduin
Limlight
River Entwash
Isen
4. [On Hold] High Pass
High Pass Road
Goblin camps
Beorning toll stations
--> Goblin Town
--> Rivendell
Eagles Eyrie
5. [On Hold] Coldfells
Mitheithel
Rhimdath
Nazgûl tomb
Orc caves from Born of Hope
6. [On Hold] Ettenmoors
--> Mount Gram [In Progress] Mitheithel
7. [On Hold] Mountains of Angmar
--> Carn Dûm
--> Mount Gundabad
2 Passes from MERP
Below you'll find a detailed plan of the area. Please note that especially the placements of the ridges and glaciers are only approximate, if you see that you either have way too much or way too few space to realise what is on the map, do something that fits better! The mountain part is only to get something to start with.
Legend: █████ Rivers (Width on the map doesn't represent actual width!) █████ Glaciers █████ Mountain ridges █████ Roads (thin: already built, thick: to be (re)built █████ To remove / delete █████ Swamps / moors █████ (white dots): Route of the Fellowship
1. Don't think in single mountains.This is what we did in the White Mountains. Dont plan on where you want to place mountains, plan where you want valleys and mountain ridges. (Planning one of those mostly should imply the 2nd one)
2. Main Ridge. The Misty Mountains are most famous for having really few possibilities to cross them (High Pass, Redhorn Pass, Moria, Gap of Rohan, Gladden River Pass and some Angmar passes). These are the only possibilities to cross the mountains, not because the men and elves were too lazy to do more, no! It has to be because the topography doesnt allow more passes. This can mainly be "assured" with the main ridge in the center of the Misties being constantly at y=200 and higher and/or always consisting of really steep and impossible-to-cross mountains.
3. Valleys. I dont want to do a thorough geology and glaciology course within this project. But some general facts about valleys should be known and be kept in ones head. It is to assume that Tolkien was inspired by the european Alps. As probably 95% of those were multiple times covered in kilometre-thick ice during the Ice Ages, water in any form plays an incredible important role in the landscape shapes occurring. Even though theres no source stating that Middle Earth had Ice Ages we have to pretend there were.
We can state that every single valley was eroded and formed by either a glacier or flowing water. Typically first by a glacier and later by water. While glaciers shape so-called "U-valleys" (cause the cross-section is shaped like an U), flowing water shapes "V-valleys"
And as neither water nor glaciers can flow upwards, valleys don't do that either. Also the water has to flow somewhere, so don't make valleys with a dead end (Never.) A valley does not necessarily have to have a river or a glacier in it (put some rubble then instead), as it could only have water during spring when snow is melting.
4. Glaciers. Glaciers can be of every size, can be 30 blocks in length or 300. Just be sure you look at some pictures of glaciers to get a feeling of their shape. Btw: Glaciers are the most realistic river source. Far more realistic than just a stream of water randomly popping out of a mountainside.
5. Don't fear greater changes. Where Redhorn now is, was a valley with bottom at y=30 before. Don't hesitate to drastically fill up valleys or blow away whole mountains. (Its not prohibited to work with the existing terrain though, as far as it matches the rules above)
Fine planning: This step includes getting an idea of what elements the final terrain should feature. I don't recommend planning this with making a map and too much effort, just make up your mind what things you want to have where. Here's a list of such elements with coordinates where to find em.
Mountain types: - steep peaks (all sides are steep): /warp Redhorn, /tp 3051 238 -2097 - "two-faced" peaks (one side very steep, other side flat): /tp 3074 235 -2427 (group of 5 such peaks)/tp 2925 247 -2225 (single one) - flat/round mountains: /tp 3189 215 -2300 - any combinations of the above.
Valley types: - V-Valley: /tp 2999 164 -2051 - U-Valley: /tp 2819 164 -2611 An U-Valley includes typically a flat and wide bottom and steep sides - Waterfalls: small: /tp 3236 172 -2162 large: /tp 3057 186 -1959
Glaciers: /tp 2809 178 -2602 Note: While terraforming, include the glacier as its easier to to know how it'll look in the end. Big Glacier: /warp Durin Broken-off glacier over a steep hillside: /tp 2558 243 -2617 Others: - High Plateau (very wide valley, dont use too often): /tp 3210 191 -2585 - Terminal moraine: /tp 3125 139 -2178 - Meridial moraine (where two glacier unite): /tp 2595 149 -2604 - Glacier lake /tp 2520 114 -2666
Cover in Sand Not too much to say here, still a few small recommendations, most of them aren't necessary to follow.
- Replace given snow blocks with sand, layered snow with air.
- The terrain should be replaced to sand quite deeply down as the terraforming may well include chopping away major parts of the existing terrain.
- To achieve above it may be a good idea not to use a really big Replace Ball Brush, but rather use a smaller Overlay Brush, but with a Depth of 20 or even a bit more.
- This step also includes draining all water, aswell as removing all existing structures, which may include Trees and Glaciers.
- While replacing, always use a Combo performer for the material you set, even if the data value you're setting is 0. This may especially prevent appearing of the new stone variants (granite, diorite...).
Needed commands:
- Drain Brush: /b drain
- Ball Replace Brush: /b b mm OR /b b cm
- Overlay Brush: /b over m OR /b over c + /b over d20 (or whatever depth you want)
Rough terraforming If your planning includes filling up whole valleys or getting rid of whole mountains, here a few hints: - For filling up valleys you best use the Filldown Brush. Even with bigger brush sizes and deep valleys this doesn't lag much due to no sand falling down. This can also be useful to make a rough base for mountain ridges out of nothing. - For removing whole mountains use the Ball Brush.
(/\ Adjusting the terrain for relocated Mirrormere /\)
- For making existing mountain ridges drastically thinner you can use the Melt Brush with a big brush size.
Needed commands: - Fill-Down Brush: /b fd - Ball Brush: /b b m OR /b b c - Melt Brush: /b e melt
Materials:
- Sand: SAND (ID:12)
- Air: AIR (ID:0)
Picture: Rough shape of backside of Mt. Gram, using a combination of Filldown and Ball Brush.
6.3. Fine Terraforming
The challenge within this step does not lie in actual skills with voxel. No, you have to gain the feeling and understanding of how mountains look like. For me who I am climbing around mountains very often this is pretty easy to achieve, but I assume for people living in countries far away of any real mountains higher than 500m above sea level this may be actually something quite difficult. Even if it may sound dumb, go to google images and type in "mountains".
Other than that theres not much that can be really helpful in written form except that I advise you to be self-critical and to think over areas you completed already again and again, and ask yourself "is that logical, is that natural, how could have this mountain been shaped like I did it?" One good sort of questions is about water: "Where does melting snow go to?" or "Where does that river I made have its water from?"
What I can do is list all the brushes I mainly used for most of the terrain and what for (usually):
Ball Brush /b b m - lay out mountain range sections, including where to have peaks. I recommend making this outline higher as the final range will be, as its easier to melt away material to get nice peaks than adding material in the finer steps of voxelling.
Lift Brush /b e lift
Arrow adds material vertically.
Gunpowder removes material vertically. - make sharp peaks with small brush sizes.
- make an existing mountain higher.
- add peaks to a mountain range or add foresummits into the sides of existing mountains.
- dig valleys or make valleys deeper
- dig river beds and lakes
Melt Brush /b e melt
Arrow removes material horizontally
Gunpowder adds material horizontally - make "boring" round summits to "two-faced" mountains (see above) by adding material to one side of the peak.
- add ridges on a mountain side.
- adjust mountain sides by either adding or removing material (Hint: You can make homogenously steep mountain sides more interesting by adding small plateaus and vertical cliffs).
- rough-merge steep mountain sides to valley bottom (for U-shaped valleys).
Disc Brush /b d m - used for rough terraforming of flat land as high plateaus and shallow valleys.
Smooth Brush /b e smooth - get rid of single blocks (mostly caused by melt and lift brush).
- general smoothing.
- attention: If used too much on mountain peaks those may get blocky.
Blend Ball Brush /b bb - smooth things the smooth brush refuses to smooth.
- soften too edged cliff edges.
- soften "blocky" mountain peaks.
- merge voxelled terrain with WorldPainter terrain.
- attention: Used to much always ends up in strangely regular terrain shapes. Only use with single clicks.
Blend Disc Brush /b bd - used for nice transitions from steep mountain sides to flat valley bottoms.
- easiest (though still arduous) way to recreate WP terrain.
Filldown Brush /b fd - lay out mountain ridges (make a base and then continue with ball brush)
Random Erode Brush /b re - If you have a big, flatter area that seems too uniform and boring, some clicks with this brush can help. Used with gunpowder it tends to add material and vice versa with the arrow.
Link to swiss map of the area with the most glaciers in switzerland: map.geo.admin.ch
0. The initial situation should be your glacier valley, all in stone, and your glacier being in stone already present.
1. Dig out the glacier so you get the empty valley. Start with /b e lift to dig down around 6-12 blocks (depends on glacier width) and then make a nice u-shaped valley using /b e melt and /b bb + /b e smooth. You can use /b bb quite extensively to smooth here as the valley bottom mostly wont be visible anymore afterwards.
2. Fill in the glacier with sand, using the /b fd brush. The decline depends on the terrain, but make it regular. In the upper end section however the glacier should get steeper and blend with the mountains surrounding that area (called a "cirque").
3. Use /b bd to refine the contours of the glacier levels. At the upper start the levels are alwas shaped concave, this means that the sides are further down the valley than the middle. Wide glaciers though get more and more convex: the middle is flowing faster then the edges. Most glaciers are too narrow to get convex though, there the levels end mostly straight or slightly concave. Long story short: Check out existing glaciers!
Smooth out the levels to get homogenous curves (/b bd / by hand).
4. Replace the top layer of sand (depth 1!) with Snow Blocks (ID 80)
5. Replace the rest of the sand with packed Ice (ID 174)
6. Optional, but recommended: (Can also get done after adding the wool)
Add a few glacier ravines at the top, where the glacier starts to flow.
Glacier ravines shall be pretty narrow and as deep as possible; you can't see any stone inside the ravine!
7. Adventurers / ArtistJob:
As placing the layered snow by hand takes ages, for every layered snow height one color of wool is placed and after that replaced with the respective block using voxel.
Note:
- Use default pack and use the wool colors seen below as this is visually easiest to understand what color represents which height.
- Make sure under every wool block is snow, not packed ice! Else the layered snow will just disappear.
- Use every wool color in equal amounts, also if the levels are really narrow (cf. images below)
- Green wool represents full block height layered snow. Their use is to prevent lightbugs that would occur when layered snow of any height is placed next to a solid block. Thus green wool has to be used differently than other wool colors and should always be placed before all the other wool.
Green wool is added along the contours of every level and the sides of them. Be sure to surround the solid blocks (snow/stone) completely, also on the corners! (cf images)
- Don't merge the glacier with the mountains on the sides, let the levels run straight into the mountains resp. green wool lines.
- In narrow levels, any other wool color can be placed onto green wool; treat green wool as if it were normal snow blocks. In contrary on very wide levels a few normal snow blocks at the bottom of each level should be left free. Together with the green wool they make up the "zero" height layered snow layer.
- If you have glacier ravines, make the snow along the edges descend a bit into the ravine. Add some layered snow into the ravines.
Narrow levels:
Flat levels:
8. Replace the wool with layered snow. To make that quickly, build yourself this tool:
Now you can right-/left click with the arrow/gunpowder to quickly set place and replace IDs and data values. Just sneak+left-click the snow blocks and sneak+right-click the wool blocks. (After the first one you only have to set the data values again with the gunpowder) Start with the green wool!
9. ArtistJob:
Dig and detail the tunnel under the glacier.
- (Staff) Use /b b mm with /vr 174 and /v 0 and decreasing brush size to dig the main tunnel. Dont dig in much further than half of the glacier length, use dynmap or minimap to check your location.
- (Artist) Refine tunnel shape, add and break some ice blocks to give it a natural and interesting shape.
- (Artist) Dig out a 1 deep riverbed into the (stone) tunnel floor. The width should be so that on each side of that trench is still one block between trench and tunnel wall.
- (Artist) Dig many 1x1 block crosssection tunnels into the sides of the main tunnels. Place a hidden piece of netherrack (water source) at their ends.
- (Artist) Add some gravel to the riverbed
- (Artist) Add more netherrack where the terrain isnt steep enough for the water to flow.
- (Staff) Add some normal ice and layered snow in the tunnel, both with decreasing amount away from the glacier gate.
When doing this last big part of voxelling, follow the step by step guide below closely. Some steps may be irrelevant for your section if you only have terrain very high up.
Introduction: Altitudinal zonation
The model of altitudinal zonation is used to generally describe vegetation in certain heights of mountain ranges, depending on main weather features as wind, temperature, rain/snow and so on.
We will use the simplified model shown above.
The zones have the following features to be voxelled:
Alpine:
- Biome: Jungle
- Full grass up to about the middle, then fading out
- Snow in sun-protected areas
- Few bushes on the lower border
- Flowers
Montane:
- Biome: Plains
- Full grass except on steep terrain
- Bushes
- Forests, single trees
Differently than in the first section of the Misties we now have to take into account that the further north we move the colder it gets, and that does affect how far down snow falls, how far up grass grows and so on.
I did put together a combination of fomulas that describe the border of the nival zone for both east and west side. These formulas are really unpractical to use, thus I will give a graph of them instead, and a table with the heights for:
- Snow = how far down full snow goes (except additional snow on sunprotected hillsides), equal to nival zone border
- Grass = how far up full grass goes (some splattered grass above that)
- JungleBiome Border, equals montane / alpine zone border
z-Val|Snow|Grass|Jungle Biome
-----|----|-----|------------
-2200|.186|..133|.120
-2300|.186|..133|.120
-2400|.186|..133|Jungle biome is omitted on East side due to too few
-2500|.186|..134|grass on the hillsides. Only the slopes towards Loth-
-2600|.186|..134|lórien and the connected valleys do still get jungle
-2700|.186|..134|biome.
-2800|.186|..135|..
-2900|.185|..135|..
-3000|.185|..135|
-3100|.185|..136|. -3200|.185|..136|..
-3300|.184|..136|..
-3400|.184|..137|..
-3500|.183|..137|..
-3600|.183|..137|..
-3700|.182|..137|..
-3800|.182|..138|
-3900|.181|..138|..
-4000|.181|..138|..
-4100|.180|..139|..
-4200|.179|..139|..
-4300|.178|..139|..
-4400|.177|..140|..
3. Snow The high peaks shall be covered in snow pretty completely. In the following, a series of different brushes will help making a nice looking coverage (as just overlaying everything with /b over d1 looks aweful)
1. make a wool line along the mountains on the height found in the table above, to mark the border of the nival zone. Steps 2-4 to be done from the wool line upwards.
2. /b sover s2000 g4000 r4 + /b sover d3 + /v 80 + /b 3 - /b 10 Cover the flatter parts to a around a third using this brush. Dont use on steep cliffs.
3. /b sover d2 + /b sover mm + /vi 1 Do the same again with this brush, now you can aswell place snow on steep terrain. Dont cover all stone blocks yet.
4. /b over d1 + /b over mm Go over the same area again, but now use the normal overlay brush and cover all remaining blocks.
5. Now we arrive to the more complicated part: More snow is added in lower areas where the sun didn't melt it. With Middle-Earth being on the northern hemisphere sun mostly shines upon hillsides facing south, but only for a short time per day it reaches the north facing sides. Thus more snow can lie on those northern slopes and aswell flat areas shielded from the sun by mountains. Add more snow with the normal overlay + d1 brush down about 10-15 blocks (depending on how covered the spot is)
6. Lastly use the splatter overlay brush with default settings (= do /d before), but still depth 1 and splatter snow along the borders of the current snow to make a smooth transition. Thus snow can get as far down that it can overlap with grass a bit you'll place in the next step.
4. Grass depth 1!
- Place again a wool line to mark the upper border of full grass, values to be taken from the table again.
- Use the overlay brush to place full grass on all flatter spots up to that wool line.
- Use the normal splatter overlay brush to add more grass 10-20 blocks higher than the full grass. Only put grass onto flatter areas. Also cover the left blank mountain faces from before to a nice looking extent.
5. Gravel
In all small dells and valleys without water add gravel where the terrain is not too steep. Normal splatter overlay is fine, but click mutliple times to get rather dense clusters.
6. Biomes
Hint: If you use optifine, go to Video-Settings-->Quality and turn OFF smooth biomes to see more clearly what you're doing.
- Start with covering all snowed areas with /b biome ICE_MOUNTAINS. Then enable /playerweather storm and make sure it does snow where there lies snow on the floor.
- All the grass in the alpine zone (see pic above) shall be in in jungle biome. Make sure you dont affect the snow areas. On the eastern side (except on the slopes towards Lothlórien) the Jungle biome is omitted. The nival directly borders the montane zone.
For a smooth biome border at the bottom do the following:
1. Add some more jungle biome by placing a rim of irregular brush size 2 dots of jungle biome. Irregular meaning, dont make a dotted line with always same space in between. Make the rim sometimes a bit wider and narrower and sometimes make dots close together or merge with existing jungle biome.
2. Do the same along the /b 2 rim but now with /b 1
3. Lastly make a rim with plains biome into the full-coverage jungle biome section with brush size 1.
How it should look like in the end:
7. Rivers & Lakes Use small /b e melt and /b e lift brushes to optimize the river shape. This mainly includes not having a way too wide river and also that it has a natural shape which means that it gets increasingly wider (preferably when two rivers meet) and doesn't get wider and narrower all the time. For that you may start using a /b 3, /b 2 lift brush to dig the riverbed into the valley bottom and then smooth it out (/b e smooth and /b bb).
Use normal splatter overlay brush to add dirt and gravel to the riverbed (dont replace all the stone). No dirt where theres no grass next to the river. Lastly replace a few stone blocks with mossy stone blocks (ID 98, data v. 3)
Now fill the riverbed up from the bottom with netherrack using the fill-down brush (/b fd). Flat sections can be done with brush sizes up to 10, steep ones with only /b 3 or 2, in very steep rivers no netherrack at all may be needed. Small rivers should mostly be 2-3 blocks deep. Convert the netherrack to water and use the melt brush to get out the last irregularities of the riverbank. If major changes had to be done you may need to drain the river again and use /b bb and /b e smooth to achieve a nice cross-section again, also add some materials again if a remarkable amount was lost.
If your source is not a glacier:
- make melting snow the source of the river, for an example see at /tp 3019 205 -1928
- Else make a bigger or smaller cave. examples at /tp 2317 84 -2834, /tp 2183 100 -2786
8. Grey stone In this step, replace about +/- 50% of the still visible stone with dark grey stone (ID: 159, data v.:9).
Used is a brush that may not be too common: The Blob brush, which basically is just a splatter brush with always one seed, only the growth parameter can be given. The result is an usually dense cluster of selected blocks centered around the point clicked and fading into surroundings nicely. Attention: the result is highly dependant on the brush size, so dont use bigger brushes for bigger areas!
commands:
/d
/b blob cm
/b blob g3000
/v 159
/vi 9
/vr 1 /b 11
No further geological knowledge is brought into this, just dont make a regular pattern, generally do single clicks but occasionally also drag some lines with that brush over the terrain. Be sure to check the Redhorn pass area to get an idea.
Also work on where only small amounts of stone are visible in the flatter areas, especially in the snow-covered areas this additional texture is important to make the mountain look interesting.
9. Boulders In wide/flat valleys below glaciers you can add some boulders using the stencillist /b sl eriador_rocks.
10. Trees Spruces can grow up higher than broad-leafed trees. Dont use broad-leafed trees on the Eastern side and on the Western side only in the montane zone. Spruces can also be used a in the alpine section (only where there is grass though, don't place tree onto stone)
Stencillist:
/b sl tree_spruce
for more go to /warp stencillists
Be sure to nicely blend the roots (for bigger forests as job as usual).
Splatter replace some grass to dirt inside denser forests.
11. Grass and Flowers Voxel (splatter) overlay brushes affect normally all natural blocks, e.g. dirt, grass, sand, gravel and stone. The last one is a problem cause we dont want any grass on stone. For this reason, use the overlay replace brush to replace all stone to an unnatural material temporarily (depth 1!), I suggest using glowstone as you then afterwards can simply set the playertime to night and easily see whether you forgot to remove some of it.
Now I again suggest switching to default pack for the grassing part as its better visible where you already grassed and where not. Use the /b sover c brush with normal parameters and /v 31 and /vi 1 to place the grass. Dont cover all grass blocks.
- Grass on gravel is fine.
- Dont worry about grass on the grey stone, stained clay doesnt count as natural material.
- If the brush does overlay still all blocks, try typing /b sover some
Either by hand, single snipes or a splatter overlay brush with low seed (for example maybe /b sover s70 g1 r1) place a few flowers. Inspired by the two probably most famous flowers of the alps we use /v 38 + /vi 3 (edelweiss) and /v 38 + /vi 5 (gentian):
Now replace your unnatural placeholder material with stone again, Best use /b b mm with /b 30.
12. Bushes
In the very final step we place a few bushes. This is a great adventurer job.
Setup:
Place some oak and jungle wood logs (6-side bark) in the upper montane/lower alpine section. Mainly place them in wind/weatherprotected places as below steep hillsides. You can also make them in a kind of cluster here and then to get a connected, big bush. Dont be stingy with those logs
The bushes shall be rather flat and not high; and not too small. Mostly use the birch leaves but also some bushes with jungle or oak leaves are OK. However dont use jungle leaves in places with jungle biome (gets too bright).
Jungle and Oak leaves can be combined in one bush, else use one leaf type per bush.
[JOB] Make wide rivers deeper. All rivers are already 1 block deep and will remain fairly shallow.
Depths depending on width:
- 1-7 wide: 1 block deep (no changes needed).
- 8-11 wide: 2 blocks deep (dig one block deeper, along the islands there should be 2-3 block wide strips with depth 1).
- 12-17 wide: 3 blocks deep (dig two blocks deeper).
- Above 17 wide: 4 blocks deep (only appears near Anduin).
[VOXEL] Add materials to the rivers:
- /b sover mm
- /b sover d1
- /vr 3 (Dirt)
- /v 13 (Gravel)
- /v 82 (Clay ~ Brighter Dirt)
[VOXEL] Add water (/b fd, /v 87 --> /b b mm, /vr 87, /v 9).
Step 2: Prepare Islands for job.
[STAFF] Pick 1 to 4 islands for one job (depending on size).
[STAFF] If Island is wider than about 12 blocks, make it higher. Count 5 blocks from the shore (resp. 3-4 blocks diagonally) until one more layer is added. There's two variants how to make this:
1: Mark out the outline of the additional layer entirely (no gaps) and use //fill 1 50 when standing inside it.
2: Place a few discs (/b d m, /v 1) and adjust them to desired shape with /b bd.
If again 2nd layer is at least 12 blocks wide add one more layer similar to first one.
[VOXEL] Convert stone to grass (/b over mm, /b over d1, /vr 1, /v 2).
[VOXEL] Add swamp biome:
/b biome swampland
/b 3
Drag this brush right along the shoreline of the island.
If neighbouring islands are already done make sure the entire river has swamp biome too.
[VOXEL] Add materials:
Add some gravel on the outermost 5 blocks (lowest layer only on bigger islands):
/b sover mm
/b sover d1
/b sover s300
/b 5
/v 13
Add dirt in the same area:
/v 3
Add more dirt on entire island. (Bigger brush size according to island size)
Step 3: Island Job
[JOB] Make shore jagged by digging 1-3 long streams into island. Fill up streams with netherrack.
[VOXEL] Replace netherrack with water (/b b mm, /vr 87, /v 9).
Then replace the stone that was below the netherrack with dirt (/b over mm, /b over d1, /vr 1, /v 3)
[JOB] Add some more blocks in an area two blocks around the shore of the island. The blocks can be completely surrounded by water or touch the island. Use grass, dirt and gravel for this.
[JOB] The first part of the island that will be vegetated is all that is being affected by the swamp biome, this means up 3-4 blocks away from the shore.
[JOB] Plant reeds (ingame name: Lilac, ID 175:1) in the area mentioned.
[JOB] Place some (single) Podzol blocks in that area.
(Explanation: This Podzol will be converted to Dead Bushes which can only be planted onto sand).
[VOXEL] Replace the Podzol with Dead Bushes (/b b cc, /vr 3, /vir 2, /v 32, /vi 0).
[JOB] Place some more Podzol blocks. Then place Double Tall Grass (175:2) ontop of ALL Podzol blocks. Additionally plant more Double Grass on all unoccupied blocks in the area mentioned above.
(Explanation: The Podzol will be converted into lower halfs of Double Grass, which yields triple or quadruple tall grass.)
[VOXEL] Convert the Podzol to Lower halfs of Double Tall Grass (/b b cc, /vr 3, /vir 2, /v 175, /vi 2).
Note: Small islands may be done at this point.
[JOB] In the next 5-6 block thick area, resp. on very big islands with 3 layers on the entire second layer, place a lot of Podzol blocks. Only few blocks should be left uncovered, up to 3 Podzol blocks can be stacked ontop of each other.
[JOB] Place yellow flowers on about 50% of all the Podzol. No flowers onto the ground.
[JOB] Place Double Grass on ALL remaining Podzol blocks and on ALL remaining blocks in between.
Note: Medium islands may be full by now, in that case continue with step 15.
[JOB] Place more Podzol in the remaining center of the island, but with decreasing density. Many blocks should be left uncovered.
[JOB] Place again flowers on 50% of the Podzol blocks and then Double Grass on ALL remaining Podzol blocks. But then only place a few more Double Grass on the remaining blocks in between.
[VOXEL] Replace all Podzol with lower halfs of Double Grass (/b b cc, /vr 3, /vir 2, /v 175, /vi 2).
[VOXEL] Place regular grass on all remaining blocks (big islands only) (/b over cm, /b over d1, /vr 0, /v 31, /vi 1, use gunpowder).
A big shoutout to everyone who joined the Bruinen riverdig yesterday! Nonstop digging for more than 6 hours was quite intense but nonetheless a pretty fun thing to do, that dig brought back some good memories.
I wanna thank all of you who helped, DJ Darth of course, who accompanied us with some classy lotr-themed music and everyone who overslept and missed an appointment the next day as i did..
Here i got probably the worst jobpicture ever for you, but who does really care:
A big shoutout to everyone who joined the Bruinen riverdig yesterday! Nonstop digging for more than 6 hours was quite intense but nonetheless a pretty fun thing to do, that dig brought back some good memories.
I wanna thank all of you who helped, DJ Darth of course, who accompanied us with some classy lotr-themed music and everyone who overslept and missed an appointment the next day as i did..
Here i got probably the worst jobpicture ever for you, but who does really care:
[JOB] Dig the main streams along the blue wool lines (yellow wool is section border). Normal wool lines represents 2-3 wide and 1-2 deep streams, wool lines with always two blue wool lines stacked upon each other are bigger streams, 4-5 wide and 2 deep.
[JOB] Add small streams as following:
- Width 0-1, this means the streams can be only connected over the corner of a block (cf. images above).
- Do not make isolated puddles, connect everything at least via a block corner to the rest.
- Vary the stream density, that means there should be clearly wetter (more streams) and drier (less streams) areas.
[STAFF] Voxel the following:
Stream materials:
- /b sover mm, with default settings (/b sover d1!)
- /vr 1 (so that only rivers get affected)
- materials: dirt (ID 3), gravel (ID 13), coal block (ID 173), hardened clay (ID 172)
Ground materials:
- /b sover mm
- /vr 2 (only replacing grass)
- /b sover s100
- with that brush add a few blocks of: stone (ID 1), coal block (ID 173), hardened clay (ID 172) - /b sover s500
- with that brush add some: dirt (ID 3), gravel (ID 13), most blocks should still be grass after that.
[STAFF] Add water. (/b fd, /v 87 to place netherrack, then /b b mm, /vr 87, /v 9) EDIT: Leave the water as netherrack until the end to avoid players placing plants in water accidentally.
[JOB] Make the bigger islands a bit higher by adding some grass blocks. Make sure no grass blocks ontop of grass blocks are visible (replace lower grass block with dirt or stone).
[JOB] Add some rocks (consisting of stone, mossy stone, coal block and hardened clay), aswell as some bushes (birch leaves). Make sure no stone ontop of grass block is visible (replace the grass with stone). Bushes can grow over small streams.
[JOB] Add A LOT of heather (allium) and long grass, and add A FEW flowers (red tulip, pink tulip, poppy).
- Job over -
[STAFF] Voxel the following:
Dead Bush:
- /b sover mm, with default settings (/b sover d1) Use gunpowder!
- /vr 0
- /v 32
Fern:
- /b sover cm
- /v 31
- /vi 2
Grass: - /b over cm
- /vi 1
[STAFF] Swamp biome:
- /b biome SWAMPLAND - /b 2
Use that brush to splatter around a few spots with swamp biome (cf. images)
Why is there a path under the white rocks leading to Rivendell? And why is there a Rivendell sign on the last cross-road ? Isn't Rivendell a hidden valley?
Why is there a path under the white rocks leading to Rivendell? And why is there a Rivendell sign on the last cross-road ? Isn't Rivendell a hidden valley?
Yesterday I was hiking with my dad; I initially intended to make that only a quick status update, but as I encountered so many similarities to the Misties I thought it matches better in this thread.
Thanks to my dad for taking the pictures
Enjoy!
map of the area
(As explanation: In Switzerland there's 3 kinds of hiking routes: Yellow, Red and Blue, Yellow is very easy and literally everyone can manage these (absolutely no dangers), blue is the most difficult and dangerous, you have to be free from giddiness, wear proper footwear and be generally a skilled hiker, red is everything in between.)
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)
? Isn't Rivendell a hidden valley?